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  card_zero
  So, about one mushroom species in five is poisonous. Why is the ratio so low, why are there lots of edible ones? Without hard-shelled seeds to spread, why be eaten? And the poisonous ones apparently don't use color as a warning signal, and don't smell all that bad, and some of the poisons have really mild effects, like "gives only some people diarrhea" or "makes a hangover worse". Meanwhile three of the deadliest species seemed to need their toxin (amanitin) so much that they picked it up through horizontal gene transfer. Why did just those ones need to be deadly? In addition to which we have these species that don't even make you sick, just make you trip out, a function which looks to have evolved three times over in different ways. What kind of half-assed evolutionary strategies are these? What do mushrooms want?
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  isoprophlex
  Incredible! A mushroom that bruises blue, but the visions are seemingly unlike traditional tryptamines, and there's no psilocybin found in the mushroom. Also no muscimol present (the thing in Fly Agaric, the 'other' type of hallucinogenic mushroom compound) yet there's definitely a consistent syndrome of hallucinations if you eat it undercooked.Could this mean we're on the brink of discovering an entirely new class of hallucinogens?
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  Aurornis
  The Wikipedia page ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallucinogenic_bolete_mushroom ) talks about effects lasting for days, even in animal studies. Some of the historical records claimed effects lasting even longer, from months to years, though this sounds like triggered psychosis.So perhaps not very recreational as might be assumed given the topic.
• kylehotchkiss
  Author flies around the world to find a shroom that makes reality feel like Super Mario and didn't even bite into one... lost opportunity
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  RomanPushkin
  The next step should be to send enthusiasts there, get samples of this mushroom from that market, and introduce it to the underground for personal research. That’s normally what happens when something interesting is discovered.For example, members of a famous forum recently found, analyzed for alkaloid content, and re-cultivated a strain of Phalaris Aquatica because of its notable alkaloid content. Some other mushrooms became popular this way as well — for example, Psilocybe Natalensis, first found in Natal, Africa. Or the now famous Tamarind Tree British Virgin Islands (TTBVI) Panaeolus Cyanescens that’s widely cultivated at home.So IMO it's not only scientists, but often enthusiasts who end up gifting these discoveries to everyone else!
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  astronads
  It is interesting how the hallucinations consistently represent tiny people/elves to the mushroom consumer, even across geography/culture.I wonder what the brain is doing…
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  anigbrowl
  When mice are given chemical extracts of Lanmaoa asiatica, their behavior shifts noticeably compared to controls.Doesn't say how, for some reason. I presume they are shocked to see tiny mice, but I would like to know what behaviors they exhibited.
• anon
  undefined
• markus_zhang
  I wish it were another dimension, or breaking through the Matrix. I never had the chance to experience such items but look forward to doing so.
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  candiddevmike
  SWIM would like to know how to get paid as (instead of paying to be) "an expert who explores new mushrooms".
• chpatrick
  Common Side Effects anyone?
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  contingencies
  Lived in Yunnan for over a decade, primarily as a vegetarian. Mushrooms there are indeed many and varied and quite tasty. Many poisonings annually but the government are pretty good at helping people to ID with warning posters. Personally ate many mushrooms that looked like this and never had hallucinations. Did have some others which made me feel a little ill, however. I suspect locals are unduly relaxed about types science would avoid due to hepatoxicity.While occasionally FOAFs would get hallucinogenic effects from dining, I don't recall explicitly hearing of anyone seeing little people, or hearing the term he details in this writing. As such, I wonder where this guy gets his info from. Certainly, most Yunnanese would describe these mushrooms as 牛肝菌 ("bolete") and more specific Chinese common names for similar reddish species would include 桃红牛肝菌 ("peach-colored bolete"). As a general type, they are very common in markets across much of Yunnan.Given the claims, the clearly infrequent effects, and the personal experience I can trust, I would conclude with three theories: perhaps either the compounds are rapidly degraded when non-fresh, safely broken down when cooking (traditionally these mushrooms are cut thinly before sauteeing or boiling in hotpot), or there are one or two "look alike" species which are more rarely found and contain additional compounds which are responsible for the occasional effects.
• czzprr
  I have a friend who gave up taking regular magic mushrooms because he always hallucinated tiny Power Rangers.
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  jumperabg
  If used can we hallucinate and predict the HN news of tomorrow(especially any acquisition related news)?
• amanaplanacanal
  It appears there are several blue staining boletes in the same genus that grow in the US. Seems like a fertile area for study.
• memming
  Aparently 见手青 is mildly toxic yet commonly consumed in Yunan.
• tartoran
  It's Elves all the way down.
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  throw310822
  I was disappointed that the article doesn't contain pictures of these little people.
• anthk
  That reminds me of Mckenna/Peter Meyer and the fractal time.https://www.fractal-timewave.com/articles.phpYou can get a free-libre Unix timewave generator there:https://github.com/kl4yfd/timewave_z3r0It's a bit pseudo-science but some Chinese wrote an article on the I-Ching and patterns and it can have a bit of truth on it.https://vixra.org/abs/2409.0093 [ Chinese, use whatever tool you like to translate it]
• spjt
  Let's ban it before anyone finds out if it's useful